We moved!

There's been some murmuring amongst Grandparents at the lack of activity on this blog, so...give the people what they want :). Even if you have to get up at 6am on a Saturday morning to find the time (not that I could have gone back to sleep anyway). Um...we moved to MN. New baby, new job, and a move! 3 of the 5 major stressors! I know that we're not that special - a lot of people in our stage of life are doing this. And it certainly is exciting, the time has absolutely flown by. Keeping up is a challenge! We've been in our new home for almost three weeks and still have boxes laying around waiting to be unpacked. But we're chipping away! When we moved the first time we got rid of most of our furniture so we've been trolling Craigslist and thriftstores (which, admittedly, we love to do) and we just got a new couch set which I'm super excited about (you try fitting a family of 5 on one recliner for three weeks! haha!) so things are coming together. Just be prepared for some chaos if you visit us anytime soon!

Updates:
Dave loves his new job and his co-workers are cool. He has already gotten back with his hockey team and played a game at an indoor rink.

Riley is having a ball being a big sister to not 1 but 2 brothers - turns out it's not as hard as she was worried it would be. Her outfit of choice: ballerina leotards and tutus. We gotta get that girl in dance! Although she also loves playing soccer with me, so... we can still connect on that level :D.

Joe had a growth spurt and nothing fits him anymore, but luckily, he likes tight pajamas. He is still allll boy. Lots of feats of strength and tackles and charging head first around the playground. And hallway and store and everywhere. He, too, loves having a little brother, but we tend to protect Henry a little from his brand of love. "Don't high five the baby's belly!" If at anytime I am busy in another room than Joe and I can't see what he's up to, it is generally still safe to yell, "Be gentle!" and have that be useful advice. It's something I say a lot. "I'm ok, Mom!" is something they say a lot.

Me, I'm doing well and loving reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones. I'm already a visiting teacher at church and I've joined a mommy's play group. I did have a case of mastitis, that was fun (underwire bras while nursing...just don't do it.) But I'm recovered from birthing now and exercise-approved, which is awesome. I can't wait to be strong again! Was preeetty useless moving that beast of a couch in the other night.

In pictures:
Leaving UT. It was sad to say goodbye to all our awesome people. We are grateful to have such awesome people in our life to say goodbye to!

The drive from UT to MN is about 20 hours, and I have to say, the kids were champs, it could have been so much worse! But, we ate our gummi worms and played games ("I spy with my little eye..."), sang songs, and watched movies on the tablet. And Aunt Emmy, bless her heart, gave the kids their own road trip bags full of little toys and games and spending money, which they have been trying to give me ever since haha. We planned to stop at Mt. Rushmore but didn't reach it till late at night so we just drove by it and I have to say: Mt. Rushmore at night = creepy. Seeing the white, floating in the darkness heads of dead presidents...not my thing. We had to wake the kids up to see it because we told them about it and they'd been excited and all Riley said was, "Huh. I'm going back to sleep now, ok?" Maybe next time we do the UT road trip we'll stop there, and this time try for better timing.

Once we got to MN, we stayed with Beth and Tom while we house hunted and God bless them - they were so gracious to have us, with our energetic little kids and 2 week old newborn baby. We celebrated Mother's day there (Tom's a good cook!) and Don visited for a couple days (missing us bad, I know. Nevermind about visiting your mother because it was Mother's day :)

After a couple weeks we found a great apartment in White Bear Lake and moved in! After having most of our stuff in storage for the past year, it was like Christmas for Riley and Joe, rediscovering their old toys. (And like an episode of hoarders for me. Who needs these many toys! We dropped off a lot of stuff - toys, clothes, shoes, etc - at the donation center. Living on less has been really good for us this past year, I do believe.)

Dinner on our first night in our new home: McDonalds, eaten on a miniature picnic table. Riley and Joe's table was the only table we had for the first week or so :) PS: they didn't really eat - too excited running around exploring the new digs.

 Kisses from Riley and Joe from MN

That time I decided cuddling > unpacking.

This place was a war zone. It will make the "after pictures" look that much better :) Oh, and everyone was on their phone.

 Miscellaneous other:

Henry in Sunday best, circa 6 weeks.

 Memorial Day babies, born a month apart.

 Baking muffins, playing twister.

Will Henry have blue or brown eyes? Looking like Team Blue!

 Dave's been busy painting furniture, including this new bunk bed for the kids! Lots of "Rapunzel "play at work!

Girls day - icecream, shopping, and Choo Choo Bobs. The boys went to see Zootopia. Joe says the toilet scene is hilarious!

 Scored this sweet reproduction of Sunflowers at the thrift store that needed some work on the back of it's frame, and when we took it apart we found this old timey marriage certificate, missing the pictures, hidden in the back. 1907! Ernest and Nellie of Pocahontas County, Iowa, how cute are you, hiding your marriage certificate in this painting only to forget about it or have one of your careless offspring lose it. But I thought it was pretty cool, was seriously freaking out.

Well, my family is awake now and it's Saturday morning, pancake morning, so I'm done!

One more thing, luckily made last night: a video of lots of happy moments in our new home (it's not really MN-specific - we don't get out much yet, so could be anywhere...it's mostly just moments that make me smile.)